Greece became the 37th country in the world and the first Orthodox country to legalize same-sex marriage. 176 of the 245 members of the Greek Parliament present voted for the new law. The law was promoted personally by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of the conservative New Democracy party. At the same time, dozens of deputies from the prime minister’s party opposed the legalization of same-sex marriage, but deputies from the opposition voted for him, including from the left-wing party Syriza, whose leader, Stefanos Kasselakis, is gay.
The Greek (Hellenic) Orthodox Church, which has the state, constitutional status of the “predominant religion” in the country and enjoys authority among many deputies of Mitsotakis’s party, strongly opposes the legalization of same-sex marriage. The head of the church, Archbishop of Athens and all Greece Jerome II, said that the new law is an attempt to impose new realities on the country that are destroying the fabric of society. On Sunday, a demonstration took place in Athens against the new law. About four thousand people came out to see her with icons and crucifixes in their hands.
Greece, according to sociologists, is the most religious country in Europe. According to the American Pew Research Center, up to 90% of Greek residents consider themselves Orthodox Christians, 58% of them claim that religion plays a very important role in their lives. True, only 16% go to church, but this is the highest figure in all of Europe.
As AFP recalls, civil unions - but not marriages - for same-sex couples were legalized in Greece in 2015, when the country was ruled by the Syriza party. Its leader, Stefanos Kasselakis, married his partner in the United States last October, for which he was insulted by homophobic conservative politicians.
The law adopted under the Syriza government did not allow same-sex couples to adopt children: one partner could officially adopt an adopted child, but not both. This law did not solve the problems of inheritance of same-sex couples.
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